Tara-Leigh Cobble

He's also kind of hoping Paul is going to pay him a bribe so he can get out of prison, but even here, Paul maintains his integrity, sharing the gospel and obeying the rules.

After two years, Felix leaves office unexpectedly.

History tells us he was kicked out of office because he couldn't keep peace between the Jews and the Gentiles.

So in order to make things less awkward with the Jews, he leaves Paul in prison.

Festus takes over after Felix, but even after two years, the issue with Paul has not cooled off at all.

In fact, this is one of the first things that gets addressed when Festus comes into office.

While he's in Jerusalem, the authorities say, Hey Festus, have your people bring Paul up here so we can deal with this.

They want to do it this way because they've hatched another plan to kill Paul along the way.

But Festus says,

Nah, you guys just come back to Caesarea and we'll deal with it there.

I've got a few empty seats in my chariot, so you can just hitch a ride back with me.

They come down a week or so later, make their case against Paul, and he maintains that he hasn't broken any laws, not Jewish law and not Roman law.

Festus wants to keep peace with the Jews too, and certainly doesn't want to be evicted from office like Felix was, so he says, How's about we take you back to Jerusalem for trial, which the Jews would love?

Paul says, hard pass.

Between the two of you, this is going nowhere, so I'm going to make an appeal to Caesar instead.

As a Roman citizen, Paul is asking to be elevated to a higher court, one that, in theory, should weigh more in his favor.

Festus agrees to his appeal.

A few days later, King Herod Agrippa II comes to town.

While Governor Festus and King Agrippa are chatting, Festus lays out the whole story for him of what's happened with Paul, and Agrippa says, I want in on this too.

Bring him out tomorrow so I can hear his side of the story.